"Nude" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released as the second single from their seventh studio album In Rainbows (2007) in March 2008. Radiohead first recorded the song during the sessions for their third album, OK Computer (1997), but were not satisfied with the results. They performed it several times over the following decade, making it one of their best-known unreleased songs, before settling on the final arrangement. "Nude" became Radiohead's most successful single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart since their debut single "Creep" (1992).

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Radiohead recorded a version of "Nude" during the first sessions for their third album, OK Computer (1997), with producer Nigel Godrich. This version of the song, inspired by Al Green, featured a Hammond organ, a "straighter" feel, and different lyrics. The band was initially pleased with the recording but, according to Godrich, "for some reason everyone went off it".[1]

"Nude" was first performed in the late 1990s by singer Thom Yorke in a solo performance in Japan.[2] Radiohead performed it several times over the following decade, and it became one of their best-known unreleased songs.[3] They and Godrich worked on the song again during the sessions for their albums Kid A (2000) and Hail to the Thief (2003), but were not satisfied with the results.[1] The song had various working titles, including "Failure to Receive Repayment Will Put Your House at Risk", "Big Ideas" and "(Don't Get Any) Big Ideas".[3] The title "Nude" derives from an early version of the chorus, which had the lyric "What do you look like when you’re nude?”[4]

During the early sessions for Radiohead's seventh album In Rainbows (2007), bassist Colin Greenwood wrote a new bassline for the song, which, according to Godrich, "transformed it from something very straight into something that had much more of a rhythmic flow."[1] The band also removed a chorus and added a new ending.[1] They performed the new arrangement, along with other new material, on their 2006 tour before recording it for In Rainbows.[5] Three takes were recorded; the final take was used on the album, with overdubs recorded in Covent Garden, London.[1]

Godrich said in 2008: "Songs have a kind of window where they are really most alive – and you have to capture it. 'Nude' missed its window, and it took a lot of reinvention to bring it back to the place where we could capture it again in a way that resonated for the people playing it. It was essentially the same song; nothing had really changed. What has changed are the people playing it."[1]

According to Pitchfork, the "Nude" lyrics address "suburban ennui, crushing boredom, unfulfilling go-nowhere lives - it's like a graceful and sorrowful version of those sometimes sneering, knees-up Kinks/Blur character songs, or the inverse of 'No Surprises'".[3] The chord progression is an example of a double-tonic complex, in which the keys of both E major and its relative minor C# are suggested.[6]

"Nude" was released as a single on 31 March 2008.[7] To promote it, Radiohead held a competition for fans to create their own remixes of the song from the individual tracks of guitar, drums, bass, vocals and strings. These were made available to download, via iTunes, on April 1, 2008, with all entries available to listen to on the Radiohead website.[8]

A music video, featuring the band members in slow motion, was made by comedian Adam Buxton and director Garth Jennings for Radiohead's "Scotch Mist" webcast.[9] An early version of "Nude" recorded in the OK Computer sessions, is included in the special edition of the 2017 OK Computer reissue, OK Computer OKNOTOK 1997 2017.[4]

"Nude" outperformed Radiohead's previous single, "Jigsaw Falling into Place", reaching number 21 on the UK Singles Chart and as of 2018, remains their last single to reach the UK Top 40. It charted at number 37 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it Radiohead's second top 40 hit after "Creep" reached number 34 in 1993. It was also the first Radiohead song to make the Pop 100.[10] There is some controversy over the US chart placement, because many of the single's sales can be attributed to purchases of individual stems for the remix competition.[11]

The official music video for "Nude" was directed by Adam Buxton and Garth Jennings and originally released as a part of the band's Scotch Mist webcast on December 31, 2007, several months before the song's release as a single. Jennings and Buxton had also directed "Jigsaw Falling Into Place", the previous video, as part of a November 2007 webcast in which they first worked with Radiohead. The "Nude" video is one of the few Radiohead videos to contain footage of the entire band since 1995's "Street Spirit (Fade Out)". The video features a Radiohead performance in extreme slow motion, with white feathers filling the screen.

An award winning[29] film by artist James Houston was also used to promote the single. Houston used a collection of vintage computer hardware to recreate the song and posted it online on 4 June 2008.[30] Houston used the audio stems from the Radiohead Remix competition, although his version was never entered. It did gain praise from the band themselves: Colin Greenwood called it "brilliant" on the official Radiohead blog.[31]